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Lana Negrete Newsletter — August 2, 2026
🌟 Santa Monica Weekly with Councilmember Lana Negrete
📅 August 3, 2026
Good afternoon, Santa Monica,
Last week I asked you to do the reading before Tuesday's homelessness vote, and you delivered. You showed up, you called in, you wrote, and you asked exactly the kind of sharp questions that make this city better. I promised you the follow-through after the gavel, not just the preview before it, so below you'll find my easy-to-understand breakdown of what your Council actually did, including the vote where I landed in the minority and why.
There's plenty more in here too: a judge ordered quiet nights restored on Broadway, our Pier Bridge crews turned a planned eight-day closure into a single day, a 17-day jazz festival is about to light up the coastline, and on Friday I walked into City Hall and made things official for November.
This one covers a lot of ground, and all of it affects you. Let's get into it.
🚔 Public Safety
🔹 An update on the Pico Boulevard homicide investigation. SMPD has publicly identified the suspect in the July 25 killing on the 1900 block of Pico: Taylor Roger Free, 35, of San Luis Obispo. After our detectives shared suspect information with regional partners, LAPD officers located him in Los Angeles that same evening, roughly three hours after the initial call. On Tuesday, the LA County District Attorney filed a murder charge, and he remains in custody on $2 million bail. The investigation is still active, and anyone with information can reach SMPD at 310-458-8491.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: A woman lost her life in our city, and her family and neighbors deserve both justice and answers. From call to custody to charges filed in three days, that is regional law enforcement cooperation doing exactly what we fund it to do, and my heart stays with everyone grieving on Pico.
🔹 A court just restored quiet nights on Broadway. On July 27, the LA County Superior Court granted the City's request for a preliminary injunction in our public nuisance case over the around-the-clock Waymo charging operations at 1222 and 1310 Broadway. While the case heads to trial, those lots cannot operate between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. The Court found the constant noise, lights, and traffic interfered with residents' ability to enjoy their own homes, and as Mayor Torosis put it, "Our residents' ability to sleep peacefully in their own homes is not negotiable."
→ 💡 What this means: This is not Santa Monica versus innovation. Waymo can still charge and service vehicles by day and run rides at night. The City spent months trying to fix this cooperatively, through direct engagement and mediation, before going to court. Ask nicely first, then act. That's the right order of operations, and I'm proud of our City Attorney's Office for seeing it through.
👉 Read the City's announcement
🔹 The week by the numbers, July 19 through 25. SMPD handled 2,316 calls for service and made 114 arrests, up from 108 the prior week, with 81 of those arrests involving individuals identified as homeless. Here's the full picture:
Category | This Week | Last Week | YTD 2026 | YTD 2025 | Change vs. 2025 |
Calls for Service | 2,316 | 2,306 | 73,654 | 68,228 | +8.0% |
Resident-Initiated Calls | 1,403 (61%) | 1,362 (59%) | 38,682 (53%) | 40,645 (60%) | -4.8% |
Officer-Initiated Activity | 913 (39%) | 944 (41%) | 34,974 (47%) | 27,583 (40%) | +26.8% |
Homeless-Related Dispositions | 482 (21%) | 482 (21%) | 16,812 | 17,791 | -5.5% |
Total Arrests | 114 | 108 | 2,992 | 1,770 | +69.0% |
→ 🎯 My take: Two rows in that table tell the real story. Officer-initiated activity has climbed almost 27 percent while homeless-related calls have fallen 5.5 percent. That is what it looks like when a city stops waiting for crisis calls and starts preventing them.
🔹 Traffic and homelessness response teams stayed busy too. Traffic personnel kept their focus on Downtown, school areas, and locations you've flagged through community feedback, while our Homeless Liaison Program teams worked downtown, the beach, our parks, and the freeway embankments, including clearing a large encampment off the I-10.
Traffic Enforcement | Stops | Citations | Advisals |
July 19 to 25 | 176 | 106 | 68 |
HLP Team Activity | Count |
Radio Calls | 47 |
SaMo Bridge / Samoshel Referrals | 6 |
Self-Initiated Activity | 142 |
Citations | 34 |
Total Arrests | 21 |
Encampments | 21 |
🔹 Our Fire Department's week at a glance. SMFD ran 320 total calls, 83 of them homeless-related, with zero fires related to homelessness, while the Fire Prevention team kept inspections and plan reviews moving.
SMFD Activity | Number |
Total Calls | 320 |
Homeless-Related Calls | 83 |
Fires Related to Homelessness | 0 |
Fire Prevention Activities | Completed |
Annual Fire Inspections | 149 |
Alarm / Sprinkler Plan Checks and Inspections | 27 |
New Construction Plan Reviews and Meetings | 7 |
Special Event Plan Reviews and Meetings | 14 |
🔹 National Night Out is TOMORROW night. Tuesday, August 4, from 5 to 8 p.m. at City Hall, 1685 Main Street, SMPD throws open the doors for an evening of food, demos, and face time with the officers, dispatchers, and outreach teams who serve you. Bring the kids, bring your questions, and put a name to the badge. Community policing starts with community.
👉 See the National Night Out details
🏛 At City Hall: What Tuesday's Votes Actually Did
🔹 The Palm Motel is coming under Santa Monica's control, and I voted yes. On Tuesday, the Council approved all seven staff recommendations to begin building the city's new Focused System of Care: negotiating agreements with the Palm Motel's owner and The People Concern to run services there focused, funding 35 beds at the Salvation Army's Bell Shelter for regional referrals, and launching a formal search for non-congregate sites to eventually replace SaMoShel's capacity and assuring its not in the Pico Neighborhood. The Palm Motel's 34 rooms, which can house up to 48 people, will be reserved for people with verified Santa Monica ties, referred exclusively through our own outreach and first-responder teams.
→ 💡 What this means: For neighbors near the site, daily operations should look much the same, with the same provider, on-site security, and no-visitor policies that have measurably improved conditions there. For the city, the difference is enormous: intake, standards, and accountability now sit here, not with a county system that is being restructured and defunded around us. Also it is important to note that there is an intake that is completed and the Palm Motel will be reserved for folks to our closer to independent living than someone who might need acute psychiatric care or detox.
→ 🎯 My take: I live a few blocks from the Palm Motel and walk my kids to school in that neighborhood, so this vote was personal, not abstract. I supported local control without hesitation. Where I dissented was the separate motion to delay winding down SaMoShel until a future site search concludes. Staff already committed that no one will be pushed to the street, regional beds already exist, so I saw the extra delay as motion without movement. I also said plainly that we should diversify our roster of service providers going forward and I tried to find support on focusing on looking for sites outside of Santa Monica becaus we ave been bearing the brunt of the homelessness crisis to our own detriment. Staff will report back on the site search within 30 to 90 days, and you can count on me to keep you posted.
👉 Read SMDP's full report on the vote
👉 Watch my breakdown of the votes on Instagram
🔹 Remember that rent measure I voted against in July? It just got rewritten. In Monday's joint session with the Rent Control Board, the ballot measure that would have let units pass from occupant to occupant was pulled back after the City Attorney confirmed the approach had never been tested in court anywhere and would likely invite a lawsuit, describing exactly the perpetual tenancy problem I raised from the dais on July 14. In its place, voters will now see a narrower measure extending just-cause eviction protections to single-family homes and condos.
→ 🎯 My take: I take zero victory laps here, because protecting tenants is a goal I share. The lesson is about process. When we slow down, ask the uncomfortable questions, and bring everyone to the table before we vote, we write better law and spend fewer of your dollars defending shaky law. That's what transparency looks like in practice.
👉 Read SMDP's coverage of the rewrite
🔹 And the SB 79 piece deserves a straight explanation. State law now requires more density near transit stops, but cities can temporarily shield a station area if enough nearby parcels already allow denser housing. To qualify the Expo/Bundy zone for that shield, the Council approved upzoning in the Pico Neighborhood (I voted no) on the same evening we adopted direction steering future interim housing away from neighborhoods that have historically carried the load. Residents raised real concerns about renters and displacement, and I believe consistency matters as much as any single vote. If we say we're protecting a neighborhood, every decision that night should say the same thing.
💼 Economic Development
🔹 Crews turned an eight-day closure into ONE day. Appian Way reopened Tuesday, days ahead of schedule, after Pier Bridge crews swapped the slower saw-cutting method for hydraulic breakers and finished demolishing that section of the old bridge in a single day. The primary route to the main Pier parking lots is back, every Pier business is open, and the full project remains on track to wrap before the 2028 Games.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Every day that road stayed closed was a day of lost customers for Pier businesses. When our contractors find a faster, safer way and take it, that is respect for the small businesses riding out construction season, and I want more of exactly that.
👉 Follow the Pier Bridge project
🔹 Small Business Spotlight: Westside Oyster Club. This week I finally got to visit one of our newest gems on Ocean Avenue, owned by Greg Morena and Yunnie, two born-and-raised locals you may know from The Albright on the Pier and Kimchi Avocado on Pico. The open kitchen is beautiful, the oysters live up to the name, our friend couldn't stop talking about the Wagyu burger, and I am telling you now: do not leave without the key lime pie. My favorite moment was running into Greg and Yunnie having dinner there with their own kids, because that's the whole story in one image. When we support local businesses, we're investing in the families who make Santa Monica feel like home.
👉 See my Small Business Spotlight
🔹 Fest Vol. VI, the summer finale, takes over the Promenade this Saturday, August 8, from 5 p.m. to midnight. All three blocks of the Entertainment Zone go car-free for the last edition of the summer: free, all ages, live music across multiple stages, a vendor village of local makers, and an Arizona Avenue night market stacked with over 20 local food vendors. Remember, we created the Entertainment Zone barely a year ago as the first of its kind in Southern California, betting that energy and foot traffic would follow. June's edition alone drew more than 20,000 people Downtown, with every food stall and pop-up putting dollars straight into small businesses.
🔹 The City just started planning the next 20 years of our beach and Pier, and residents get a real say. Planners have launched the Beach and Pier Vision Plan, a roughly two-year blueprint covering nearly 250 acres of our most beloved public space, born out of the Parks and Recreation Vision Plan the Council adopted in January. Community surveys and pop-up events on the sand roll out late this year into 2027, deliberately timed to absorb lessons from the World Cup, the 2027 Super Bowl, and the 2028 Games.
→ 🎯 My take: Plans written early get shaped by residents; plans discovered late get protested by them. Get in early. I'll flag every chance to weigh in as the outreach begins.
👉 Read SMDP's report on the Vision Plan
🎓 Education, Arts & Our Youth
🔹 The LA Jazz Festival runs August 7 through 23, with free concerts across the region. The LA Jazz Festival runs August 7 through 23 with free Jazz in the Park neighborhood concerts, Jazz After Dark restaurant pop-ups, a free Caribbean Street Carnival at Venice's Windward Circle on August 21, and a beachfront finale weekend headlined by John Legend, Janelle Monáe, Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton, and Raphael Saadiq. The founder frames it as reclaiming the coast for communities once pushed off it, and he cites Santa Monica's own Ebony Beach Club history by name.
→ 🎯 My take: I grew up in a musical family and I've spent my life around a music store, so believe me when I say access to live music changes kids' lives. Free concerts within reach of every family, plus an honest telling of our coastline's history? Take your kids. Let the music do the teaching.
👉 Read about the LA Jazz Festival
🔹 Summer Reading has 12 days left. The Library's program wraps August 15, and there's still time to log hours toward the prize drawings, including a Nintendo Switch 2 for readers ages 4 to 18 and a Kobo eReader for adults. Ten minutes a night still counts. So does a comic book.
👉 Visit the Summer Reading page
🏠 Housing
🔹 Shovels are in the ground for affordable senior housing on 14th Street. On Tuesday, July 28, Hollywood Community Housing Corporation broke ground on Tierra Apartments at 1211 through 1217 14th Street, bringing 80 affordable apartments for seniors 55 and older to a site that spent decades as a City parking lot, with completion slated for 2028. Senior housing is some of the toughest housing to get built and some of the most urgent, because too many longtime residents are aging into a Santa Monica they can no longer afford. These are the neighbors who built this city, and they deserve the chance to grow old in it. For nearby neighbors: demolition and site work run through mid-August with a sidewalk closure along Wilshire and 14th during work hours, excavation follows through early September with an occasional right-turn-lane closure on 14th, and foundation work begins in early-to-mid September. HCHC will post regular construction updates online.
👉 Follow Tierra Apartments construction updates
🔹 Renter Aid closes in 17 days, and I don't want one eligible household to miss it. Applications for Santa Monica's homelessness prevention program, offering one-time or short-term financial help for renters facing a temporary crisis, are open only through Thursday, August 20. Apply online, or get in-person help at the weekly assistance hours at Virginia Avenue Park and the Main Library, with Spanish-language support available. One hard month should never cost a family their home, and helping early costs a fraction of helping late. If you know someone on the edge, forward them this link today.
👉 Apply for Santa Monica Renter Aid
🎉 Around Town & Community
🔹 On August 10, we write a long-overdue name onto one of our streets. At 4:30 p.m. on Monday, August 10, the City will hold the official Silas White Street Renaming Celebration on what is currently Vicente Terrace, the street between the Viceroy Hotel and the RAND building. In the late 1950s, a Black entrepreneur named Silas White set out to open the Ebony Beach Club there, a place where Black Angelenos would be welcomed on a coastline that so often shut them out. The City used eminent domain to take the property before the club could ever open. Late last year, we reached a settlement with the White family, and renaming this street was part of that commitment. On August 10, we will keep it. This is the same history the Jazz Festival's founder is naming this month, and now it will be on our own street signs. None of this undoes the past, but a city willing to name its history is a city serious about earning trust for the future. I hope you'll join us.
🔹 Ocean Avenue goes car-free for art this Saturday. Art on Ocean, the Palisades Park Arts Festival, takes over Ocean Avenue from California to Montana on Saturday, August 8, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with artists, music, food, and a wine and beer garden hosting guided paint sessions. A whole boulevard traded cars for canvases. That's my kind of traffic plan. And it’s extra special for me as my brother will be doing Paint and Sip sessions! So make sure to sign up and I’ll see you there !
📅 Dates to Know
🔹 Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 4, 5 to 8 p.m.: National Night Out at City Hall with SMPD.
👉 See the National Night Out details
🔹 Wednesday, August 5, starting 6 a.m.: Fall recreation class registration opens for Santa Monica residents (non-residents register starting August 12). Hundreds of classes for every age, from swim lessons to Toddler Music and Dance Party.
👉 Browse and register on RecScape
🔹 Thursday, August 6: Community meeting on the San Vicente coral trees.
🔹 Friday, August 7: LA Jazz Festival opens its 17-day run, and Friday Night Lights free flag football continues at John Adams Middle School, 6:30 to 8 p.m., ages 6 to 18.
🔹 Saturday, August 8, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.: Art on Ocean along Palisades Park.
🔹 Saturday, August 8, 5 p.m. to midnight: Santa Monica Block Fest Vol. VI on the Promenade.
🔹 Monday, August 10, 4:30 p.m.: Silas White Street Renaming Celebration at Vicente Terrace.
🔹 Through Saturday, August 15: Summer Reading at the Library.
🔹 Through Thursday, August 20: Santa Monica Renter Aid application window.
🔹 Saturday and Sunday, September 26 and 27: Ocean Way Festival on Santa Monica Beach.
🔹 Every Wednesday and every weekend: the farmers markets are open, and weekends are where you'll find me either shopping or at a table. One Cedar or Little Bean is where you can find me over a cup of coffee. Bring your toughest question; I'll bring a straight answer.
💙 All In Through November
Friday was filing day. I officially turned in my nomination papers for another term on your City Council, and now the County verifies the signatures while we go full speed toward November 3. The day itself was very on brand: coffee, my dog Lucy, a stop at One Cedar where an impromptu chat with a constituent turned into a genuinely thoughtful conversation about our community, and then off to City Hall, navigating my apartment buildings construction zone and all, to make it official. To everyone who signed, encouraged me, and yes, challenged me: I don't take your trust for granted.
I'm also honored to share the endorsement of Assemblymember Rick Zbur. Rick and I have worked together through the Palisades Fire response and on the Local Coastal Program, and what I value most is that he listens to opposing viewpoints and stays focused on solutions. We don't have to agree on everything to treat one another with respect and deliver results. That's the kind of leadership Santa Monica deserves, and it's the kind I try to practice every week.
As we head into the next stretch of this campaign, I’m asking for your support. If you’re able, please consider making a contribution, every dollar helps us reach more voters across Santa Monica. If you’d rather give your time, we’d love your help with door knocking and upcoming campaign events. Visit LanaNegrete.com or reply to this email to get involved.
👉 See my filing day post on Instagram
👉 Read the Zbur endorsement on Instagram
📱 Stay Connected
Got an issue to report? Want to make sure the city hears you?
If you haven't already, be sure to follow me on Instagram too for behind-the-scenes updates, event highlights, and my thoughts along the way as I continue to go on this journey with you.
🔹 Book time with me. Virtual, in-person at City Hall, or catch me at the farmers market on weekends.
👉 Book Office Hours with Councilmember Lana Negrete
🌟 Closing Thought: The Same Table
This week your Council wrestled with some of the hardest questions facing this city, and we did it the right way: in the open, with residents in the room, with hard questions asked out loud. I didn't land in the majority on every vote, and I'm genuinely at peace with that. I said yes to local control of the Palm Motel and no to a delay I thought we didn't need. Colleagues I respect saw it differently. That's not dysfunction. That's democracy with its sleeves rolled up.
Rick Zbur's endorsement reminded me why I keep coming back to one idea: progress happens when people willing to disagree still sit at the same table. So here's my ask this week, and it's an easy one. Tomorrow night, come sit at ours. National Night Out, City Hall, 5 to 8 p.m. Meet an officer. Meet a neighbor. Ask me anything. The table is big enough for all of us, and honestly, it's better with you there.
Lana Negrete
Councilmember, City of Santa Monica